Saw a group of 4 or 5 guys riding single file at a pretty decent speed at Moorebank Ave westbound this morning about 9:10am, all in "Korea" marked clothing, not their national team or anything was it??

meridaman wrote:Saw a group of 4 or 5 guys riding single file at a pretty decent speed at Moorebank Ave westbound this morning about 9:10am, all in "Korea" marked clothing, not their national team or anything was it??

Ahh, it's about time those guys got in the bike lane.. On the M7 they used to take up a full lane on the way to uni

Caution required on the M5 now with all the roadworks going on for the widening of the motorway.

The breakdown lane heading east between the M7 interchange and Fairford Road has been reduced in width. Added to that is the fact that it is now full of debris, particularly pebbles and grit from where they have ground off the old line markings to reduce the width of the lanes.

Might send an email to the operators requesting additional sweeping of the lane.

OK, sent tham an email and also rang the 1-800 number listed for cyclists.

Have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the girl on the phone. She listened and agreed with my evaluation of the issues surrounding cyclists during the roadworks. She is going to request increased sweeping activities during the roadworks, and will also inform me via email of any significant changes that will affect my commute along the motorway.

Kev365428 wrote:OK, sent tham an email and also rang the 1-800 number listed for cyclists.

Have to admit I was pleasantly surprised by the girl on the phone. She listened and agreed with my evaluation of the issues surrounding cyclists during the roadworks. She is going to request increased sweeping activities during the roadworks, and will also inform me via email of any significant changes that will affect my commute along the motorway.

Good result I reckon.

Kev.

Thanks for that Kev.

I noticed that too this week though I think it's much worse on the way back (from Bexley North). Was just thinking tonight that they should've ran a sweeper after they scratched up the surface to remove the old painted lines...

I'm also wondering how how the road up from King Georges to Bexley North will play out when they supposedly make it three lanes each way. Hope they don't take away that shoulder!

Anyway you ride the M5 much? I've been on it for about three or four days a week this year and hardly see anyone cept for an old guy I seldom bump into. Is that you?

Agree with you Marcus - debris in the breakdown lane is much worse heading east.

Nhitrac, the widening will stop at KGR, so you'll still have a breakdown lane and lots of traffic to the tunnel entrance heading east.

I try to commute 3-4 times a week, but it doesn't always work out that way for me. Heading east, I'm at KGR anywhere betwen 5:30am and 5:50am, depending on what time I get up. Heading west I'm at KGR between 3:00pm and 3:20pm, sometime a little earlier.

Former forum lurker and runner come avid commuter from Lugarno to CBD with my first post

Rode the M5 on friday 26/10/2012 mid morning from King georges road, Beverly hills down to Camden and back.

Just before the Narrelen road Exit near the overpass there is a heap of Truck radial on the shoulder which is very hard to avoid and slivers of metal on the shoulder

2 Flats later i was back on & riding back to Hurstville . Shoulder was pretty good the whole way back for the 100KM round trip .

Will be doing this again Saturday morning 5am & will let you know if it is any cleaner

Welcome

I ride from the Ingleburn ramp to Bexley North and back on most days. There was a lot of debris due to the road work but I believe they've sent out a sweeper as its been much cleaner in the last few days.

Might see you around. If you see a fat guy with lights galore, that'd be me

Former forum lurker and runner come avid commuter from Lugarno to CBD with my first post

Rode the M5 on friday 26/10/2012 mid morning from King georges road, Beverly hills down to Camden and back.

Just before the Narrelen road Exit near the overpass there is a heap of Truck radial on the shoulder which is very hard to avoid and slivers of metal on the shoulder

2 Flats later i was back on & riding back to Hurstville . Shoulder was pretty good the whole way back for the 100KM round trip .

Will be doing this again Saturday morning 5am & will let you know if it is any cleaner

Welcome

I ride from the Ingleburn ramp to Bexley North and back on most days. There was a lot of debris due to the road work but I believe they've sent out a sweeper as its been much cleaner in the last few days.

Might see you around. If you see a fat guy with lights galore, that'd be me

Hahaha Sounds like you should be easy to spot then with all the lights etc .

It will be good to see someone else out there as it gets pretty lonely on the Shoulder lane .....

We are actually building at Gregory hills so come a month or so and i will be communting to the CBD via the M5 Emergency lane ......... I am sure i will see you out there eventually

As of last Sunday, shoulders eastbound from Fairford Rd to Belmore Rd had heaps of gravel from the scraper used to remove the old markings. Pity they couldn't have got a sweeper to clean it up decently. It's not really a puncture hazard, fairly unpleasant to ride across on 23mm slicks at speed. Westbound didn't seem as bad IMHO.

Biggest worry is that the on-ramps and off-ramps between River Rd and Belmore Rd are now slimmer,and not as long. Less margin for motorists error, and in wet weather and/or at night, some motorists might not track where they should be correctly.

WombatK

Somebody has to do something, and it's just incredibly pathetic that it has to be us -Jerry Garcia

A quick look at the M5 website showed that they had scheduled sweeping for Anzac Day. As I have not ridden the M5 since Wednesday 24th, I was wondering if anyone else can confirm the sweeping took place?

Well, I sent an email off to the M5 mob on Monday regarding the amount of debris on the shoulder.Got the following reply today -

Hi Kevin,

Thank you for your email to the M5 West Widening Team about the gravel and debris in the shoulder of the motorway.

We value feedback from motorists and cyclists and continue to look at ways of improving our processes. Although we have two street sweepers working every shift to clean up debris on the site vehicle access tracks in the median and shoulders of the motorway, we have sourced a new street sweeper company to take over the job to ensure the motorway is kept clean. Debris is a constant concern to us and our incident response team are kept busy removing large and small items that end up on the motorway from over 125,000 vehicles that use the motorway daily.

Hopefully with the new company engaged, you will start to see an improvement along the motorway.

Thank you once again for your feedback, if you have any other questions or need more information, please email again or call the Community Hotline on 1800 986 933 (free call).

Kin Regards,

M5 West Widening Team.

I rode the M5 today on the way into work, and there was a marked improvement in the reduction of gravel on the shoulder.

Thanks Kev - I rode it yesterday (Wednesday) and there were quite a few little stones, but almost no other debris.

I was riding home in the dark yesterday and the narrowness of the breakdown lane is a bit of a worry in some sections! Looking forward to completion of the works - does anyone know the timeframe for that?

So for the last year or two that I've been commuting on the M5, when heading westbound I've always gone straight after the Beech Road exit. Just recently with all the widening, they installed some concrete barriers which were placed in such a way that it forced me to ride extremely close to the road (almost on the white line). Being quite concerned for my safety and others, I wrote to them two nights ago.

It turns out we cyclists are not allowed to commute along that section and must take the Beech Road exit, joining the Hume Highway again via Campbelltown Road. They pointed out to a sign indicating so (which I did see tonight after looking for it).

I replied last night stating the signage and instructions were not all that clear and could be missed by others. Their response was a surprise and I applaud them for taking the matter seriously and swiftly:

Thanks for your email, our traffic management team have taken your feedback on board and as a result they have arranged work crews to start stencilling additional signage on the road pavement at this location to assist with directing cyclist traffic. In addition to the stencilling we have also placed an order for additional signage.

The new signage is larger in size 600 x 1200 and the signs have a high visual frame on them. They will be positioned just after the Box Road overpass and just before the Beech Road Exit directing bicycles off the motorway.

The stencilling has been scheduled to commence tonight and the signage should arrive and be installed within the week. Safety is our number one priority on this project and we appreciate you taking the time to contact us with your concerns. If you have any additional questions please don't hesitate to contact our team.

NhiTrac wrote:So for the last year or two that I've been commuting on the M5, when heading westbound I've always gone straight after the Beech Road exit.

Is it still ok and safe to proceed straight on the Beech Road exit, but then follow the M7 exit aroundto the cyclists exit to the M7 cycleway ? It's been a while since I've headed that way, but I've never noticed any signs indicating it's not OK.

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